Paperwork: Brochure and Box Photos

Nice cluster of furniture, though I prefer the long coffee table since the square one looks like an end table. 

The A Frame house in a brochure. 

The 1982 Cottage in a brochure with the newly remolded pink furniture. 

Illustration of house and also a girl from 1961. 

Another brochure photo, earlier than the one above since it has the original  colored furniture. 

Cottage : An Overview

I have been focusing on the Cottage more lately due in part because I have posted about every topic on the big house and these two homes really do have much in common. For one, they almost look the same, another thing is that now that I have the Cottage out and am really looking at it I think that it does stand up against most other dollhouses. Its large, iconic, still has essentially 6 rooms like the 1978 house and is very versatile in the way you can lay it out. Mine is not mint or complete but I love it just the same. You'll notice I took the top part of the 1980 pool, underlaid blue poster board and put everything on fake grass carpet from the home improvement store. At some point I will set up both homes with this as the garage/apartment it could always have been for the large 1978 house.

Temporarily staged with my 1970's Sindy dining room set from the UK. 

Color field rooftop terrace, inspired by Rothko. ;)

Cottage : Custom Design

These photos were made possible by combining two cottages, the 1980 pool and miscellaneous accessories both Mattel and non-Mattel. I tried to keep everything as clean and simple as possible.  Everything you see is just placed together, no nails or glue required =-) PS this is in UNpainted cottage. The one I am refurbing had to be painted and is OXY-Kaboom! white which does make the slightly faded roof and floors really pop quite nicely. Incidentally, the small white cactus planters were a 3 pack from Pier one for $5.99 and they go great with everything. Usually they live in shadow boxes in my study. The clear orange table is a stationary box from Michaels that was like $3.99 and works so well in all dioramas as well. The white sofa is one of those cheapie Chinese Gloria sets that are kinda too small for Barbie but make the house look bigger and gorgeous, so anyway there you have it. Side note, you can never have too many floor pieces for patios. They actually work better than the triangles and can be obtained MUCH cheaper.

I did not do this floor tile pattern but I saw it online and thought it was interesting and well done, would make for a good bathroom or kitchen. Another subtle and congruent attention to detail customization.

1978 Mattel A Frame Barbie Dream Doll House Red roof yellow floors mod groovy 1970s 1980s custom OOAK 

Cottage : Renovation : Before, During AND After

Short sale, all offers welcome! 

Demolition...

Clean, dry and ready for some scotch tape. Afterwards I was ready for some scotch of my own. PS Out of my two cottages, my personal one had no post covers and the new purchase ($21 plus shipping) had 4 brown cracked ones. I had 4 repaired covers left over from the shards I pieced together as featured in another post I used for this project (they are featured below).  

Appropriate layout for spraying, you want as many things as possible parallel to get the overspray from the piece next to it plus it goes faster as your sweeping arm movements are more smooth and coordinated. 

The red and yellow parts really do pop against the freshly painted white. Do know that I did not paint the rafters or the side columns. They werent that far gone and it blends okay. See the front right section of railing that was missing I replaced with a poster board scrap by tracing? 

Nothing too exciting back here to report, you can see the repaired columns, they were brown and in pieces, so scotch tape and Rustoleum really work wonders. 

All packed and ready to go to a fresh new buyer. I surround the paper wrap with a combination of bubble and styrofoam. This box is just a smidge larger than it needs to be but its measurements are 23x20x14. 

I really did not want to paint any part of the cottage, but the walls of the new purchase were just too far gone, here you can see why it was necessary. Just make sure all the nooks and crannies are super clean or you will be painting over dust which will be totally noticeable later.

Customs : Repaints and Floor Factory Colors

Very orange floors. 

Very yellow floors. 

Here you can just barely see the rare purple roofed house with mauve floors. 

Hot pink roof, see the picture above this one is more purple ish. 

Reinvented Cottage: July 2012 Edition

As most of you may know there is a post featuring the $1500 sushi restaurant cottage on ebay, the $800  Ken's swingin' bachelor pad (plus a 1978 A Frame ski lodge for Bratz) and the occasional one like this latest reinvention of the cottage. I like it, I dont love it. As the 1982 Cottage is so much rarer than the big house I dont condone modernizing these rarities. Theres so many other new dollhouses out there I dont find it necessary. It does look like they did a good job painting it though. I like the detail work on the french doors with frosted glass. I believe the lanterns and mailbox are black. I wonder if a lighter color for the lantern would have looked better. The 1978 Dream Furniture line also got a make over in chocolate brown to mimic wood. I wouldnt have gone the leopard print route but we all have individual tastes. Plus I think the bare wicker furniture looks a bit unfinished against everything else. It needs a plant, umbrella, BBQ or fire pit up there. I cant help but wonder where all the flower boxes went to. My personal cottage doesnt have one and I never see them in miscellaneous lots of Barbie odds 'n ends.

Ho ho hopeless...

1978 Mattel A Frame Barbie Dream Doll House Red roof yellow floors mod groovy 1970s 1980s custom OOAK 

Blogger's Own: Renovated and Sold House

This is the last one I refurbished (cleaned, spray painted, added flowers). I made a profit of approximately $20 for 3 days of work. It was not my usual $60, but times are tough. The buyer was very happy with it. I think it was an exceptional deal. 

Colorforms : Rare Pink Version 'Super Deluxe Dream House

Sorry for the pixelation, but here is the interior. 

On a 'item youve been watching' list of A Frame homes this week on Feebay, I found this, 'item you may be interested in'. Its a 1990 Colorforms set perportedly unopened and still plastic sealed. I have never seen it before, its also one of the only images from Mattel that feature a non bi-lateral presentation of the house. I like the pink and green color scheme they did on the front of the box. You can check it out now on the Ebay with search terms 1990 barbie colorforms house. Its sealed, so no interior shots for now.
Update: 2020-2023: Amazon now has the original 1978 version colorforms kit reissued for under $20! 

architect architects idea ideas goal aesthetic eames eichler palm springs by the sea malibu granola earth tones earthy autumn wexler wood slats open playful fun 1960s 60s open playful play timeless heirloom